Family
by Otherdark
Summary: Naraku dead and the Jewel complete, Kagome decides to stay in her time (I know, horribly cliche). But when familiar faces begin to show themselves, will she have to pick up the pieces of the life she left behind? {InuKag,SessRin)
1. I: At the End, of All Things

DISCLAIMER-ER: I don't own anything! WHEEE!!

Hehe ; A new fic! And I used to be afraid to post anything... Welps this is an idea I've had for quite some time, and I've only just gotten around to doing anything with it... I'll probably post more of it when I get back (I'm goin to DC for a week... I'll probably write most of the way on the buses .)... Well hope you like! And if you don't mind my shameless plug, PLEASE go read my fic "Wonderland"... so much more time and effort went into that one than this one... and it's my proud creation... ; So anyway... Hope you enjoy the story! Here we go!

Jakotsu: Oh my gosh, thith ith THO fun... -claps sarcastically- When do _I_ get to be in thith?

--

Kagome stared at the starlit sky, the white specks in the endless abyss reflecting in her eyes. She leaned back, stretching her legs out in front of her, and yawned.  
  
_I did agree to stay up with him_, she reminded herself. _Can't fall asleep on him_.  
  
"...The stars are pretty tonight..." she mused.  
  
"Feh."  
  
She glanced over at Inuyasha, gray eyes flashing in the firelight. He gazed back lazily, obviously barely awake, just as she was. But it was his choice to stay up all night when he was human, anyway.  
  
"What's with the gloomy disposition?" she asked, following his eyes as he turned away from her. "I thought you'd be happiest of us all, now that this stupid thing is whole again, anyway."  
  
She pulled the chain that held the Shikon no Tama out from underneath her collar, staring at it with the tiniest bit of remorse.  
  
"Feh," he repeated, barely looking at her.  
  
Kagome narrowed her eyes and tucked the Jewel back underneath her shirt. "But maybe I was wrong..." she mumbled, folding her arms across her knees.  
  
Inuyasha yawned, scratching the back of his neck absently. "So..."  
  
"So... what?"  
  
"So, now that the Jewel's complete... and everything's over... what d'you think you're gonna do?"  
  
Kagome blinked, surprised. I hadn't thought about it... "I... I don't know."  
  
"Are you going home?"  
  
...Home?  
  
"To your time, I mean."  
  
Kagome shivered. "Well, yeah, I always do—"  
  
"No. That's not what I mean." Inuyasha pulled the ends of his sleeves over his hands. "I mean... like... for good."  
  
_For good_??  
  
Kagome blushed, staring over at her companion worriedly. _Go home for good... Could I do that...? Would I let myself...?_ "I... I don't know about that, Inuyasha." She felt her stomach squirm even thinking about it. "Do you want me to?"  
  
Inuyasha made a choking noise and scooted away from her a little, eyes wide. "What... what the hell? Why'd you... How can you even..."  
  
_Why did I ask him that?_  
  
_Do I really think he wants me to go?  
_  
_...Or is it me who wants to leave?_  
  
Kagome shook her head, clearing her conscience. "I... I don't..." She sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I don't know, Inuyasha... I want to stay with you—all of you... but, you have to understand..."  
  
He didn't reply. Just stared into the fire, agitated.  
  
"You have to understand what I'm giving up if I stay here with you."  
  
"And it's better than what you'd give up if you didn't, right?"  
  
_Now look what I did_. "Inuyasha, I didn't mean it like that."  
  
"Do you even know what you'd give up if you left us?!" Inuyasha exclaimed, hopping to his feet.  
  
"Inuyasha, calm down, you're going to wake everyone up!"  
  
His dark eyes flashed angrily, giving her a sick sort of feeling, but he held himself back and said nothing else.  
  
"That's not what I meant," Kagome said again, startled by his outburst. "What I meant was... I want to stay, but... my family..." She looked up at Inuyasha carefully. "You know what it's like not to have family..."  
  
Inuyasha muttered something incomprehensible under his breath and kept staring unhappily at the fire.  
  
"So... I guess... I've got to go back, Inuyasha."  
  
Inuyasha took a few steps forward and sat right up next to the fire.  
  
_No more talking to him, I guess_, Kagome thought, and shivered in the sudden chill.  
  
--  
  
Inuyasha yawned widely, rubbing his eyes to keep them open. He looked at the black-haired girl lying a few feet away on the ground, drifting in and out of some kind of dream.  
  
Suddenly Kagome sat bolt upright, and let out a tiny shriek.  
  
Inuyasha looked at her skeptically. "You OK?"  
  
"The spiders..." Kagome mumbled, barely opening her eyes. "The spiders, they... they want me to tap-dance... I don't... don't want to tap dance..."  
  
Inuyasha cocked one eyebrow up. "Yeah..." he agreed doubtfully. "You... tell those spiders, Kagome."  
  
"O- ok I'll... I'll tell them..." She slumped back down, asleep again.  
  
Inuyasha frowned. _So much for staying up with me_. He gazed up at the stars for a moment, then, thinking the better of it, lay down next to Kagome.  
  
_It'll be the first time I ever slept through a new moon... but I think I'll live._  
  
Already falling asleep, Inuyasha's hand found Kagome's and his fingers curled around hers protectively.  
  
_If she's going to leave me... might as well make the best of it._  
  
He fell asleep, his face just inches from Kagome's.  
  
Her face relaxed from her "spider nightmare" and she smiled to herself in her sleep.


	2. Interlude I: Love

Well, I seem to be on a bit of a second-chapter streak. So I thought, why not? -rolls eyes- Even though it's not actually a chapter. it's an interlude- which, in this story, is sonething not exactly essential to the plot but it goes along with the story and it was fun to write, and most of these interludes will probably be blasts into the deep depths of Sesshoumaru's memories. So... nya.

--

Love.

It was a disgusting thing, really. An emotion, a weakness, a powerless point in life.

He cursed himself for being such an _imbecile_. A complete, foolish, idiotic _imbecile_.

Love.

A _disgusting_ thing. Love was a pit of blackened, foul matter; a swamp, a trap of filthy, slimy,_ human_ emotions that snagged mortals by the heels and dragged them unmercifully into its murky depths and never let go. A pit that he, _imbecile_ that he was, had walked past unknowingly and had been dragged into himself.

_Love_.

'Why me?' he asked those of power above, slamming his head repeatedly against the wall, causing himself a pain in is forehead that came nowhere near to the pain in his heart.

How had he allowed himself to be grabbed by the unclean trap that was love? Wasn't he always told to watch his feet when he didn't know the way?

And how, in everything that he knew, everything he had convinced himself to believe, did he manage to fall into love's depths side-by-side... with a human?

He stopped his head-banging in mid-slam, resting his aching forehead against the cool stone wall. Humans disgusted him, made him _sick_, and here he was, causing himself brain damage because he had _fallen in love with one._

Ten years.

He would have thought ten years would have changed her, but he was mistaken. The bubbly, smiling girl he had found, he had _saved_—God knows why—ten years ago had not changed except on the outside. And maybe in that the love she had held for him then was a bit different than the love she held for him now.

He bit his lip, wincing. Why did he fall in love with her? He was hurting her every day, the way he was to her. Hurting himself, just like now.

Maybe it ran in his family.

Maybe it was predestined. His father had fallen for one, as well. And the mangy, flea-bitten brother that human had given life to had done it as well, though she.. she was different. And she was gone, for good. They'd never see her again, but the hanyou continued to pine for her, to wait for her. He would wait a thousand years if he had to, and meet with her again in death at his last resort.

Oh, you would have thought by now that they would learn their lessons—but as the saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

He was beginning to be disgusted with himself.

She had even kissed him—put her repulsive human lips on him—and he had let her. He had _let_ her.

She was a human. A human _child_.

His heart—yes, he had one, blackened and cold as it was—it hurt too much for this to be real.

"I'm too old for this..." he mumbled wearily to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Too old for what?"

He stopped moving altogether and stood silent, listening to the steady beat of his heart. At least it still worked. He was afraid it had stopped altogether, the pain was so enormous. But maybe, if he didn't move, didn't breathe... the pain would stop.

"...Sesshoumaru-sama...?"

He had to breathe. Not breathing made it worse.

But still he didn't dare to answer her.

"...All right... dinner is ready when you are, my lord." She turned and slid his door closed behind her quietly.

He sighed and hit his forehead against the cold stone one more time, then gritted his fangs. "Too old to love you.."

He pulled away from the wall and left the room briskly, putting on his usual attitude of indifference.

"Damn you humans," he muttered under his breath.


	3. II: New and Old Faces

And another chapter begins in the saga of the futuristic friends, I THINK someone we know will show up in this one... I think... uh... -is writing the author's note before the chapter- Oh well. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the following: _Inuyasha_ and Co. or Frosted Flakes (though I do have a box of these in my cabinet). But I do own Akira and his brothers and sisters so please, don't steal them. _Please_.

Oh and tip for the chapter, Otooji means uncle, or a parent's younger brother. Once again, I'm full of useless information... But just so you know. Yah. :D Enjoy!

--

The early morning snow drifted quietly to the ground, landing in thick white sheets on the steps of the Higurashi shrine. The old well house, locked up for years now, was collecting its own snow-banks silently across the cul de sac from the house. The windows in the house itself were shut and curtained, the sills building up with snow... except for one.

A young girl of 18 buttoned the sweater over her uniform blouse carefully, then turned, her black hair sliding over her shoulder, and opened the curtain a little more to see the yard. It was coated in the wintry frost and looked especially pretty this early, when no cars were there to toss their wastes into the atmosphere. The morning air was as white and pristine as the snow, and she sighed, turning back to put on her knee-high black stockings.

A boy, who looked to be about 17, smirked and crept out from under the balcony, sneakily gathering a large, well-packed snowball in his gloved hands. His white hair blew in the chilling breeze, and his dark brown eyes glittered mischievously as he counted under his breath.

_One_...

He turned the snowball over in his hands, still grinning.

_Two_...

He swung his arm back and aimed carefully—

_Three_.

"HEY, KAGOME!!!"

**SPLAT**.

The snowball hit her window with a wet squelch and startled her, causing her to whip around and nearly trip over her half-on sock. She stumbled to the window and peeked out, noticing the white-haired boy in his black parka, smiling innocently up at her. Her face brightened, and she slid the window open and leaned out to talk to him.

"Akira-kun!" she said happily, beaming. "What are you doing here?"

He flashed his charming grin back up at her, "Passing by on the way to school. I figured you needed someone to walk with." He brushed the snow off his gloves and stuck his hands in his pockets.

Kagome nodded, and finished pulling her stocking on. "I'll be down in a second," she assured him, and slid the window shut. She walked to her bed and grabbed her bookbag, pausing to scratch her fat old cat behind his ears, then left her room and trundled down the stairs. She grabbed her coat and slipped it over her shoulders, calling to her brother.

"Tell Mama I'm leaving early today."

"Kay." He practically ignored her, indulged in a cartoon show and his bowl of Frosted Flakes and spitting out a conditioned response, causing his sister to sigh exasperatedly. She shook her head and slid her shoes on, then stepped out the door.

Akira had his back turned to the door and was examining the shrine when she came out. She smiled, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Find something interesting?" she giggled, as he laughed nervously.

"I guess..." he shrugged, and pointed across the yard. "That old shed over there... what's in it?"

She gazed over at the well house and drew in a sharp breath, old memories flooding through her mind. She bit her lip to keep the old pain inside—no one had talked about that well for three years, and since it had been boarded up she never thought twice about it.

"N-nothing... Can we go now, Akira-kun?"

He gave her a strange glance, then nodded slowly, his usual warm smile spreading back across his face.

--

Kagome slammed the door of her locker shut, snapping the flap of her bookbag closed. She turned and slung her worn yellow bag over her shoulder and took off down the hallway. She stared at the ground and trudged out the front door, not looking as she ran straight into someone.

She jumped back, blushing, and bowed. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching..."

"Really Kagome-chan, it's okay. _Really._" She looked up to see Akira peering back down at her.

Her blush grew, and she shook her head. "Don't do that, you scared me!"

"I'll prevent it in the future." He smiled. "Do you need someone to escort you home, too? I'll walk with you if you want—"

A car horn blasted loudly, cutting him off.

"Hey, loser!"

Both spun around to see an old black station wagon sidle up alongside the curb. The driver's side door swung open and a young man with short black hair and vivid yellow eyes stepped out, grinning madly.

"So how was school, Akira-kun?" He beamed, stepping away from the car.

Akira gasped, then broke into a grin. "Otooji?! What are you doing here?" he laughed, running up to the black-haired man and throwing his arms around him. "I thought you were in America for the winter!"

"Well, I was, but I've been there all fall and I guess I missed ya." He kicked at a rock and leaned against his car.

Kagome stared.

I know that voice... 

_-"Do you even know what you'd give up if you left us?!"-_

She looked at the black-haired young man again, and her eyes widened...

I...Inuyasha...?? 


End file.
